{"id":5352,"date":"2020-04-19T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-04-19T14:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5352"},"modified":"2020-04-12T14:52:03","modified_gmt":"2020-04-12T19:52:03","slug":"road-trippin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5352","title":{"rendered":"Road Trippin’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Journal of Joy: Things that make my\nheart smile\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spent ten or so years ministering in Appalachian areas and I\u2019m not saying the roads were bad but they did leave a lot to be desired. Okay\u2026they were bad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n\u201croad\u201d stories I could tell are too many to mention. When we first moved to\nWest Virginia, we were traveling late at night on a two-lane, curvy,\nmountainous road. Being impatient, I asked my husband why he was driving so\nslowly. He said, \u201cBecause I want to be sure the road hasn\u2019t washed down the\nmountain.\u201d Sure enough, we happened onto a section where a large chunk of our\nlane was gone. These were the paved roads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nKentucky, we actually had to drive down a creek bed to visit a person who\nlooked just like Mammy Yokum including a corn cob pipe and coffee can spittoon.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once,\nwe were driving on a small road on the side of a snowy mountain to visit a family\nfrom our church. Our car slid and perched itself half on the road and half\ndangling a bit off the road, sort of in midair. Fortunately, the part in midair\nwas on my husband\u2019s side so I crawled out my car door with our two daughters,\nages seven months and two years old. We trudged down the road to the farm\nhouse. The family and I were pondering how to rescue my husband or if we would\never see him again when all of a sudden we heard a car coming. Miracle of\nmiracles \u2013 up drove my husband. I admit that he is a great driver but I think\nwe have to give God the credit for this one! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curvy\nroads were not new to me because much of my childhood was spent navigating such\nroads in southeast Missouri in the foothills of the Ozarks. Those two-lane\nroads were so hilly and curvy I would get carsick often, much to the chagrin of\nmy parents. Some roads were like riding on a roller coaster. As you drove up a\nhill you could not see what was on the other side until you reached the top.\nYou learned to drive slowly and stay way over on your side of the road because\nthere could be an unexpected curve waiting on the other side or a car veering\ninto your land. I think there are some parallels to be made here for our\njourney through life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before\nwe got married, I told my city slicker fianc\u00e9 about these roads but he didn\u2019t\nbelieve me. However, when we went to visit my country cousins, he got so\ncarsick I had to drive while he laid down in the backseat with his eyes closed.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nour children were little, we spent many hours on country curvy roads in\nAppalachian areas. Our young daughters suffered from the same carsickness I had\nat that age. Many a trip included them barfing out a car window or into a\nbucket I carried in the back seat. My sympathy for what I put my parents\nthrough increased dramatically. Ah, what memories! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\none such trip, our daughters were riding in the back seat with an intern who\nwas spending the summer with us helping with ministry. Our daughter Shelly had\nher head resting on George\u2019s lap. I glanced back and recognized a certain\nexpression on her face and shouted, \u201cGet her to the window \u2013 quick!\u201d George was\nstunned but got her to an open window just before she emptied the contents of\nher stomach. George was a bit shaken and said, \u201cI don\u2019t know how you knew she\nwas going to do that, but I will be eternally grateful!\u201d And he has been\nbecause he tells me each time we reconnect even though it happened forty years\nago.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Straight\nroads are fine but the scenery on the curvy roads is spectacular. Hillsides of\ngreen, majestic mountain views, wildlife, and lush plant life. Of course, you\ncan enjoy it more if you aren\u2019t carsick or almost rolling down a mountain side.\nAh, but, that is where the adventure lies in the journey. God never promised me\nlife would be without twists, turns, ups, downs, detours, queasy feelings,\ncurves, or side trips. He did, however, promise to be with me every mile of the\njourney. Finally, after all these years, I\u2019m learning to let Him drive so I can\nenjoy the ride.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you so much\nfor my childhood. You gave me the best of both worlds by living in the city and\nspending so much time in the country with loved ones. Thank You for preparing\nme for our years in Appalachia. How I love those people! They are honest and\nsincere and love You deeply. The roads may have been curvy but the ride was\nmagnificent. As far as my life\u2019s journey goes, I know You are a better driver\nthan I. Relinquishing control to You has not been easy. Help me to continue to\ntrust You in this lifelong process. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Journal of Joy: Things that make my heart smile\u2026 By Barbara Dahlgren We spent ten or so years ministering in Appalachian areas and I\u2019m not saying the roads were bad but they did leave a lot to be desired. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5352"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5352\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}